Covered top for desks and the like



Jan. 9, 1940. J. R. JONES COVERED TOP FOR DESKS Am) THE LIKE Filed Nov. 26, 1958 nvvmyron. m I FM.

Patented Jan. 9, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE James R. Jones, Jamestown, N. Y., assignor to Art Metal Construction Company, Jamestown,

Application November 26, 1938, Serial No. 242,525

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the construction of covered tops for desks, tables and other articles, and more particularly to an improved construction for metal desks or other tops that are pro- 5 vided with top surface coverings of relatively stiff sheet material, such as linoleum, which extend over or cover the edges of the tops. Metal desk tops are commonly made with such sheet surface coverings to produce a desirable non-metal- 10 lie-upper surface, and recently there has been a trend to avoid sharp edges or corners in the tops and design them with curved or rounded edges and corners. While cover sheets of the nature mentioned can be bent to cover the rounded side 15 and/or end edges of the top, which are straight horizontally, the sheets are not sufiiciently pliable to adapt themto be shaped or molded to conform to and cover the comers of the top so as to produce a neat or finished corner appearance.

9 Therefore, metal corner caps, moldings or trimming means have been resorted to for giving a finished appearance to the corners of tops in -which the cover sheets extend down over or cover its edges.

25 One object of my invention is to produce a top covered with sheet material, such as linoleum. which is of novel, attractive appearance and of desirable construction.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a novel method for producing such tops; also to provide a top covered with linoleum or the like sheet material that covers the edges of the top, and which top has corners of desirable finished appearance free from metal corner caps, mold- 85 ings or the like; which has rounded edges covcred by the cover sheet and rounded corners, which are of like surface appearance with rounded edge and other portions of the top covering; and which has the other features of advantage 40 and improvement hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a corner portion of a desk having a top construction embodying 45 my invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the corner portion of a metal core for the top having a welded corner.

Fig. 3 is a similar perspective view illustrating 50 the cover sheet applied to a top core, showing the comer gap in the cover sheet and a core having an open corner joint or gap.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view, partly in section, of the comer portion of the finished top made 55 with the top core shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a comer portion of the cover sheet before application to the core.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section through the finished top in the plane indicated by the line 66, Fig. 1.

Fig. '7 is a similar section of the finished top on a plane passing through the corner cover filling.

The top comprises a core or body Ill which, as shown, is formed of sheet metal having downturned flanges II, at its opposite or front and rear side edges and end edges, that are curved 10 so as to form deep rounded edges at the sides and ends of the top core. At the corners of the core, the side and end flanges or edge portions of the metal sheet are shaped, by any suitable method, so as to provide the top core withrounded corners of the same vertical curvature or shape as its rounded side and end edges. Such corner formations can be produced by cutting and shaping the corners of the sheet by die-forming, stamping or otherwise, and the adjoining ends of the side and end flanges may be welded together, if desired, as represented at I 2 in Fig. 2, or they may be left unwelded so that the adjoining end edges of the flanges will meet or substantially meet in a flush joint, as shown at l3, Fig. 3. Only one corner of the top is illustrated in the drawing, but it will be understood that the other corners may be of the same form and construction. In the top core shown, the bottom edges of the downturned side and end flanges are bent to provide the top with inwardly extending bottom flanges H. The top core could be made of other material and suitably shaped by any appropriate method to form the core with the rounded edges and corners.

l5 represents the cover sheet of linoleum or the like which covers the top and rounded edge surfaces of the top core. This cover sheet is notched or cut away at each corner of the top forming a. right angle notch l6, Figs. 3 and 5, at the corner. These corner notches permit the edge portions of the cover sheet to be bent down over and conform to the curvature of the rounded side and and edges of the top core, thus permitting the cover sheet to flt flat and smoothly against the top surface and rounded side and end edge surfaces of the core to which the cover sheet'may be cemented, as usual. The side and end edges of the cover sheet l5 preferably terminate substantially flush with the bottom edges of the downturned side and end flanges of the top core.

With the cover sheet thus shaped and applied to the core, the downcurved side and end flange portions. I! of the cover sheet terminate at their ends at or short of the points where the hori- 2 2,1se,sao

zontal rounding of the corner of the core starts, thus leaving the rounded corner of the core uncovered at the corner gap in the cover sheet. This gap is filled and the corner of the core covered with a plastic composition or material which is applied on the exposed corner of the core between the edges of the cover gap so as to form a corner l8 for the covering which is made to conform to the shape of the core corner 10 or have the shape desired for the corner of the ilar in surface characteristics to the cover sheet, which is preferable, it will not be apparent in the finished top that the cover sheet has been notched and filled in at the corners. In making linoleum covered tops, it is common practice to treat the surface of the linoleum, after it has been applied to the top core, with a suitable finishing substance, and my cover sheet and the plastic corner fillings, after they have set,

may be treated in this same way to better in- 10 

